Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Tender Words from a Mentor │ Msg 214 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Tender Words from a Mentor │ Msg 214 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: The Word of God is alive and active, and sharper
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Speaker 1: than a two edged sword. It is able to pierce
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Speaker 1: beyond the soul and spirit, even beyond the joints and
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Speaker 1: the marrow, and is able to judge the intentions of
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Speaker 1: our hearts. I've said for years that God's word can
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Speaker 1: touch where no surgeon's scalpel can ever reach. There is
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Speaker 1: no such thing as surgery on the soul. Only God
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Speaker 1: can do that. Every time we open the scriptures, we
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Speaker 1: are opening the living and powerful Word of God, no
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Speaker 1: matter what section of the Bible we are in. Today,
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Speaker 1: we're in the first chapter of the second Letter Paul
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Speaker 1: wrote to Timothy. We know it as simply Second Timothy.
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Speaker 1: It represents the final will and testament of Paul's writings.
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Speaker 1: If he lasted days, perhaps only hours after he signed
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Speaker 1: off this letter, his head was severed from his shoulders
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Speaker 1: as he was martyred for his faith under the brutal
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Speaker 1: and perverted rulership of Nero, the fifth Emperor of the
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Speaker 1: Roman Kingdom. Today, we're grateful that God's word lives on
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Speaker 1: even when his messengers are taken from us. If you
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Speaker 1: brought your Bible today, will you open it? Please? In
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Speaker 1: the New Testament to the Little Letter of Second Timothy
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Speaker 1: two Timothy, chapter one. We have looked at a survey
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Speaker 1: of this letter in the previous time we were together,
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Speaker 1: and today we're going back to the first seven verses
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Speaker 1: of Second Timothy chapter one. You will find an outline
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Speaker 1: in your worship folder which you can use as a
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Speaker 1: guide for our time together in the Word. Just hold
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Speaker 1: that nearby and we'll come back to it. Out of
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Speaker 1: respect for the scriptures, will you stand with me as
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Speaker 1: we read these first seven verses of tewod Timothy chapter one.
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Speaker 1: Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of
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Speaker 1: God according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus
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Speaker 1: to Timothy, my beloved son, Grace, mercy and peace from
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Speaker 1: God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank
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Speaker 1: God whom I serve with a clear conscience, the way
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Speaker 1: my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my
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Speaker 1: prayers night and day, longing to see you, even as
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Speaker 1: I recall your tears, so that I may be filled
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Speaker 1: with joy, For I am mindful of the sincere faith
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Speaker 1: within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and
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Speaker 1: your mother Eunice. And I am sure that it is
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Speaker 1: in you as well. For this reason, I remind you
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Speaker 1: to rekindle afresh the gift of God which is in
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Speaker 1: you through the laying on of my hands. For God
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Speaker 1: has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of
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Speaker 1: power and love and discipline. May our Great God be
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Speaker 1: honored as we come to know this passage better and
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Speaker 1: to live it out in our lives. Please be seated.
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Speaker 1: May we bow together from all over these United States,
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Speaker 1: and from all about this great state in which we live,
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Speaker 1: and from the community and beyond this community in which
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Speaker 1: we find ourselves. Today we come before you as one body,
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Speaker 1: our Father, joyfully, we adore you. Joyfully. We come to
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Speaker 1: sing our praises and to learn truth, to live by,
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Speaker 1: truth that is housed in an inspired book, preserved for
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Speaker 1: us now in our own tongue, ready to be understood
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Speaker 1: and applied. We come from a pressurized world we experience
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Speaker 1: these days, our Father, the downturn of an economy we
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Speaker 1: experience in our country, unrest in some places, borderline chaos.
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Speaker 1: We come from the news that's filled with another act
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Speaker 1: of terrorism, lives lost, people crippled, many maimed, all touched
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Speaker 1: by that terrible act deep within their soul, specially family
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Speaker 1: members who grieve the loss sudden as it was, of
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Speaker 1: those they once talked with and set alongside of. Thank
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Speaker 1: you for protecting us thus far. Thank you for preserving
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Speaker 1: our liberty and those who do that on our behalf
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Speaker 1: in uniform carrying heavy, deadly weapons, living around land mines,
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Speaker 1: an enemy that will stop at nothing to take their
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Speaker 1: lives and to take our liberty. Guide us as a people,
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Speaker 1: our Father, to walk humbly with you, and to remember,
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Speaker 1: greater is he who is in us than he who
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Speaker 1: is in the world. Some come today filled with joy,
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Speaker 1: answers to prayer ministries they've been involved in that have
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Speaker 1: been marked by your hand of favor, soul saved. Thank
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Speaker 1: you for the sports program and the faithfulness of our
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Speaker 1: ministry there. Thank You for these over a hundred who
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Speaker 1: have entrusted their lives to the ministry of Stonebrier. Thank
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Speaker 1: You for the things we will learn from them, from
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Speaker 1: the things they will learn from us. We joyfully meet
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Speaker 1: together to give to you, our Father, from our treasure.
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Speaker 1: Compared to this world at large, we are a body
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Speaker 1: of very wealthy people. Thank you for your blessings. Even
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Speaker 1: in our need. We have more than most. Thank you
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Speaker 1: for the homes in which we live, the vehicles we drive,
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Speaker 1: the health we enjoy, the church in which we sit,
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Speaker 1: the beauty of great music. How blessed we are. Thank you,
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Speaker 1: Father for preserving your word to guide us like a
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Speaker 1: lamp in the dark night, a lamp for our feet
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Speaker 1: and a light for our eyes. May it guide us
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Speaker 1: this day as we see ourselves reflected in the mirror
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Speaker 1: of your word. May it remind us again that just
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Speaker 1: as you were at work in the first century, you
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Speaker 1: are at work in the twenty first, and your providence
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Speaker 1: is unfolding in its own mysterious and sovereign manner. Out
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Speaker 1: of this context, our Father, we joyfully give to you
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Speaker 1: from our gifts that you have provided in abundance. Hear
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Speaker 1: from us as we give first ourselves and then our
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Speaker 1: offerings with great joy, in the name of Jesus, our Master,
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Speaker 1: whom we adore. In his name we pray. Everyone said, Amen,
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Speaker 1: words mean more to us when we learned the context
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Speaker 1: in which they were written. I've discovered the more painful
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Speaker 1: the context, often the more meaningful the words. There was
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Speaker 1: a hanging at Flossenburg in the gray dawn Monday morning
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Speaker 1: April ninth, nineteen forty five, as the lifeless and limp
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Speaker 1: body of Dietrich Bonhoeffer swung from the rope, suddenly the
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Speaker 1: words he had written took on a whole new meaning. Suddenly,
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Speaker 1: though he was dead, they came alive with a fresh
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Speaker 1: burst of hope and realism. Dietrich Bonhoeffer had been a
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Speaker 1: faithful pastor, a careful and keen thinking theologian, trained for ministry,
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Speaker 1: and then could not find himself able to leave his
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Speaker 1: beloved Germany, not even when the Third Reich began their
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Speaker 1: move in the wrong direction. He saw the evil of
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Speaker 1: the man who led that horrible organization, and he therefore
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Speaker 1: became a marked man in the eyes of Heinrich Himmler,
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Speaker 1: who began to watch him and to notice his turn
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Speaker 1: and the delivery of his messages. And little by little
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Speaker 1: the SS troops could no longer ignore him, because by
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Speaker 1: now he not only was a part of the confessing Church,
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Speaker 1: he had joined the resistance movement. They were unable to
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Speaker 1: tolerate that. Therefore, his church was shut down by him,
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Speaker 1: and finally he was imprisoned, first in Berlin bluken Walden,
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Speaker 1: then Schoenberg, and finally Flossenburg. Hemmler thought he could silence
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Speaker 1: the man by putting him in prison, and he was
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Speaker 1: shocked to learn that even though he was in prison,
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Speaker 1: his writings continued to go on as he ministered to
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Speaker 1: those around him. Other inmates as well as couriers would
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Speaker 1: secretly take his works and carry them to his family
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Speaker 1: and friends who were out in the environs of Germany
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Speaker 1: and countries beyond. It was decided he would no longer
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Speaker 1: have contact with the outside world, and they closed off
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Speaker 1: that as well, and finally his life was contained in
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Speaker 1: the cells at Plassenburg, for he ministered to various nationalities
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Speaker 1: Russian English speaking, there were Frenchmen in it as well
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Speaker 1: as as Germans, and one English officer who was in
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Speaker 1: that group, to whom Bonheffer Minister took the time to
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Speaker 1: write of the last scene of his life. Boneffer always
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Speaker 1: seemed to me to spread an atmosphere of happiness and
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Speaker 1: joy over the least incident, and profound gratitude for the
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Speaker 1: mere fact that he was alive, writes this officer. He
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Speaker 1: was one of the very few persons I ever met
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Speaker 1: for whom God was real and always near. On Sunday,
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Speaker 1: April eighth, nineteen forty five, Pastor Boneffer conducted a little
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Speaker 1: service of worship and spoke to us in a way
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Speaker 1: that went to the heart of all of us. He
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Speaker 1: found just the right words to express the spirit of
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Speaker 1: our imprisonment. The text on which he spoke on that
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Speaker 1: last day was with his stripes we are healed. He
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Speaker 1: had hardly ended his last prayer when the door opened
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Speaker 1: and they said, prisoner Bonoffer, come with us. That had
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Speaker 1: only one meaning for all prisoners the gallows. We said
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Speaker 1: our goodbye. He took me aside and whispered, this is
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Speaker 1: the end, but for me it is the beginning of life.
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Speaker 1: The next day he was hanged. He was thirty nine
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Speaker 1: years old. The irony of his tragic and what we
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Speaker 1: would call premature death is that in only a matter
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Speaker 1: of days the Allied troops arrived and liberated that death camp,
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Speaker 1: as well as the others, in a few days time.
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Speaker 1: In God's mysterious and unexplainable providence, he chose to delay
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Speaker 1: the liberation until Bonoffer was hanged. Why quite likely because
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Speaker 1: as only the Lord would know his words, the words
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Speaker 1: written by the man who was not taken would take
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Speaker 1: on a whole new meaning. If you love to read
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Speaker 1: as I do. You have read ethics written in prison,
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Speaker 1: letters and papers from prison, the Martyred Christian, and his
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Speaker 1: best known work, The Cost of Discipleship, as well as
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Speaker 1: Life Together. I confess to you just this past week,
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Speaker 1: in reading again Life Together, I couldn't get out of
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Speaker 1: my mind's eye the dreadful thought that there was that
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Speaker 1: body swinging from the gallows on that April dawn nineteen
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Speaker 1: forty five. That's the one who wrote these words. Words
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Speaker 1: mean more when we learned the context in which they
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Speaker 1: were written. It was Bishop Hanley Mool who said it
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Speaker 1: is almost impossible to open the pages of Tewod Timothy
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Speaker 1: without a mist forming on one's eyes. Why would he
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Speaker 1: say that? Because words mean more when we learned the
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Speaker 1: context in which they were written. This letter to Timothy
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Speaker 1: was not written from a prison camp or a death camp,
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Speaker 1: but a death dungeon, a small, foul smelling cell where
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Speaker 1: the great Apostle Paul spent his last hours under the
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Speaker 1: streets of Rome as existing like a rat for an
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Speaker 1: undetermined period of time, during which, under candlelight, with his
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Speaker 1: physician by his side named Luke, he wrote his friend
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Speaker 1: Timothy this letter. Whenever you read Second Timothy. Always put
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Speaker 1: yourself in that dungeon. It will make the letter come
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Speaker 1: to have new life as you see the context in
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Speaker 1: which it was written. If you've not yet done so,
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Speaker 1: please open your bibles to Second Timothy one and try
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Speaker 1: to imagine Timothy when he is ministering hundreds of miles
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Speaker 1: away in the city of Ephesus, far removed from the
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Speaker 1: dungeon in Rome, beyond the Adriatic, through Greece, beyond the Aegean,
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Speaker 1: all the way to what we know today as Western Turkey.
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Speaker 1: They're in a pastorate in Ephesus. A knock comes at
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Speaker 1: his door, and some courier hands him a scroll that
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Speaker 1: has made its way out of a dungeon. It bears
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Speaker 1: his name. I can't imagine how thrilled he must have
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Speaker 1: been to get this letter from his enduring companion, a
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Speaker 1: man he has known now some eighteen to twenty years.
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Speaker 1: He's traveled with him, He's seen him in pain, he's
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Speaker 1: watched him malign, he has heard him teach. He has
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Speaker 1: learned his theology standing in the winds, in the shadows
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Speaker 1: of Paul's life. And now he has a letter written
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Speaker 1: to him, and he knows from the grape vine that
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Speaker 1: Paul is short lived, and so he reads the first
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Speaker 1: word and smiles. Paul Us, how often he must have
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Speaker 1: called that name, Maybe in the middle of the night,
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Speaker 1: perhaps when feeling forlorn and lonely in their travels, he
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Speaker 1: would call that name. Now Paul introduces himself as apostle
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Speaker 1: of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, according to
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Speaker 1: the promise of life in Christ Jesus. Now I ask you,
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Speaker 1: since Timothy knew him so well, they had traveled all
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Speaker 1: those years together, why would Paul take the time to
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Speaker 1: give us his credentials? I mean, this is an authoritative
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Speaker 1: first verse. This is not just a friend writing a
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Speaker 1: son in the faith. This is an apostle called by
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Speaker 1: Christ Jesus according to the will of God. Well, you see,
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Speaker 1: Paul knew in his own mind that this letter would
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Speaker 1: find its way beyond the church at Ephesus and into
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Speaker 1: other churches, and through the decades and finally the centuries.
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Speaker 1: It would be preserved. He didn't know, but it would
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Speaker 1: be finally put into who knows how many languages today
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Speaker 1: and ultimately all the way to the twenty first century.
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Speaker 1: It finds its way to our hands and our hearts.
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Speaker 1: Sitting here in this place. What you may not know
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Speaker 1: is that his apostleship was being questioned. There were those
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Speaker 1: who saw him as sort of a self appointed apostle. Furthermore,
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Speaker 1: how could a man who had been that hostile for
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Speaker 1: that long to that many Christians now call himself of
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Speaker 1: all things? Well, of course we know the answer to that.
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Speaker 1: It's the grace of God. God can pick up any
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Speaker 1: worthless thing and turn it into something golden and beautiful
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Speaker 1: by his grace, and he has done that with Paul.
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Speaker 1: And so Paul identifies himself as as an apostle. Apostleoss
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Speaker 1: means messenger, one sent forth with extraordinary status on a
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Speaker 1: special mission. That's the idea of an apostle. Furthermore, he
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Speaker 1: was one gifted with supernatural abilities. Apostles could do miracles
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Speaker 1: at will under the power of the Holy Spirit. Apostles
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Speaker 1: had seen the risen Christ. There are no more apostles.
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Speaker 1: I don't care what individuals may call themselves and whatever
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Speaker 1: church they're a part of. Apostles are no longer in existence,
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Speaker 1: will no longer see the risen Christ. People no longer
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Speaker 1: can do miracles at will. All of that has passed.
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Speaker 1: Now that we have his word for our learning and instruction.
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Speaker 1: But for Timothy, he is an apostle of Christ Jesus,
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Speaker 1: by the will of God according to the promise of life.
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Speaker 1: Those words promise of life is a reference to the Gospel.
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Speaker 1: The good news of Christ is the promise of life.
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Speaker 1: In Him is life, and the life is the light
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Speaker 1: of men. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
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Speaker 1: No one comes to the Father but through me. So
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Speaker 1: the apostle is saying, I am one sent forth with
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Speaker 1: a message on this mission to make Christ known as
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Speaker 1: the giver of life, and I have been sent by
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Speaker 1: God to do it. Just as an aside, no extra
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Speaker 1: charge for this comment. But there are people today who
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Speaker 1: sort of appoint themselves to ministry. That kind of individual
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Speaker 1: always troubles me. Only those who have been called by
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Speaker 1: God should be seen as ministers of the Gospel. It
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Speaker 1: is a calling. It is a supernatural thing. It is
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Speaker 1: a divine act for the Lord in his providence to
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Speaker 1: reach into the life of an individual and to call
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Speaker 1: him out from the ranks of everyday life and to
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Speaker 1: place him into ministry. I read the humorous story this
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Speaker 1: past week of a seasoned old pastor who was in
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Speaker 1: his eighties, by then long since stopped preaching unfortunately, and
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Speaker 1: as he was sort of going from one church to another,
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Speaker 1: he found himself at a church pastored by a young
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Speaker 1: man who had sort of appointed himself to the role
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Speaker 1: of the preacher, and his message was about himself had
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Speaker 1: very little depth. When you were all through, you were
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Speaker 1: a little better off. Having heard all of that, the
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Speaker 1: preacher sort of endured it as he listened. Finally most
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Speaker 1: of the people had left, and the older man walked
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Speaker 1: down front. Not an educated man, but what he lacked
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Speaker 1: in education and made up for in guts. He looked
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Speaker 1: at the young man and said, hey, Sonny, want to
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Speaker 1: ask you, was you sent or did you just went?
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Speaker 1: I love that question. Everybody needs to ask himself. Was
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Speaker 1: I sent or did I just went? Did I just
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Speaker 1: dream this up? Or is this something I couldn't do
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Speaker 1: even if if I tried to stop it. This is
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Speaker 1: what God has called me to do. And the apostle
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Speaker 1: Paul is saying, it's by the will of God. Don't
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Speaker 1: go over that too quickly. When it is by the
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Speaker 1: will of God, then the will of God gets accomplished
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Speaker 1: through that messenger. Your heart is touched by that messenger.
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Speaker 1: It doesn't mean the messenger has no accountability or cause
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Speaker 1: all the shots. It simply means that messenger happens to
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Speaker 1: be in a that few people are in, in the
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Speaker 1: plan of God, and in that role he must conduct
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Speaker 1: himself accordingly. Well as much as that meant to Timothy,
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Speaker 1: can you imagine what he felt like when he read
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Speaker 1: his own name Paul to Timothy. Have you ever stopped
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Speaker 1: to fake what it would feel like to have a
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Speaker 1: book of the Bible written to you or a letter
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Speaker 1: written to you? Imagine that, first of all, we're all
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Speaker 1: grateful the Bible is no longer being written, since it
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Speaker 1: would contain a lot of personal things that we hope
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Speaker 1: nobody ever finds out about. In the Bible, all of
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Speaker 1: these things are set forth, and you know these people,
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Speaker 1: warts and all. And here is Timothy sitting here wherever
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Speaker 1: he was, pulling aside from his responsibilities and unrolling the scroll,
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Speaker 1: and he sees his name to Timothy. Now Paul is
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Speaker 1: anything but formal. He calls him my beloved son. Literally
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Speaker 1: the Greek term is child to my beloved child. Paul
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Speaker 1: isn't looking down on Timothy. He's just remembering his conversion
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Speaker 1: because of Paul's ministry at Listra eighteen twenty years earlier,
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Speaker 1: Timothy came to Christ and as a result, Paul, in
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Speaker 1: chapter sixteen of Acts, asked Timothy to begin to travel
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Speaker 1: with him. Had him circumcised since he was of mixed family.
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Speaker 1: His father is a Greek and his mother is Jewish,
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Speaker 1: and so Paul wanting him to travel with him, and
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Speaker 1: his ministry invites him to do so. When he sees
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Speaker 1: him now as his child, it's a term of endearment.
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Speaker 1: And if that isn't enough, he says to him, grace,
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Speaker 1: mercy and peace. Is an interesting when we begin to
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Speaker 1: read a letter like this, we start to move over
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Speaker 1: that part. Sorry too quickly, Paul, so to Timothy, Grace, mercy, peace. Okay,
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Speaker 1: and now let's get down to what's really say. Wait, wait,
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Speaker 1: every word is important, every turn. First of all, I've
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Speaker 1: impressed that he doesn't say pain, mistreatment, and misery accompany me.
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Speaker 1: I'm impressed that he doesn't say, if you only knew
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Speaker 1: how dark it is in this dungeon at night, if
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Speaker 1: you only knew how unfair the trials have been, if
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Speaker 1: you only knew how painful it is to live with
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Speaker 1: these scars and the broken body that I now have
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Speaker 1: as a result of making Christ. It's none of that.
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Speaker 1: It's not about Paul. When you're called of God by
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Speaker 1: the will of God, your message isn't about yourself. It
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Speaker 1: is about grace, God's gift to the worthless. It is
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Speaker 1: about mercy, God's ministry to the helpless. It is about peace,
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Speaker 1: God's love to the restless. Don't ever forget that He
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Speaker 1: chased your mind, placed tricks on you from time to time,
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Speaker 1: and you wonder if it's worth it to get up
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Speaker 1: and get dressed for church. Why not sleep in like
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Speaker 1: a lot of other people. Remember, this is one of
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Speaker 1: the few places where we, as a gathering, will learn
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Speaker 1: of the grace, mercy and peace of God. This is
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Speaker 1: one place where we can sit together, each one of us,
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Speaker 1: reviewing in our own mind, our lives, the world in
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Speaker 1: which we have lived, the struggles from which we have come,
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Speaker 1: and we sit bathed in the grace and the mercy
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Speaker 1: and the peace of God. Don't you love it that,
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Speaker 1: in spite of all the pressure, there is not a
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Speaker 1: hint of bitterness here or ever in the Great Apostles
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Speaker 1: writings pressure. Do I describe your world with that one
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Speaker 1: word Hudson Taylor had buried his second wife in the
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Speaker 1: prosen land of Inland, China. He was left with his
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Speaker 1: little children, motherless. Now drew the little curtain between them
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Speaker 1: in that cold basement that night, and writing of his father,
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Speaker 1: his son includes this reminder that that night he remembered
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Speaker 1: his father writing in his journal, it does not matter
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Speaker 1: how great the pressure is. What really matters is where
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Speaker 1: the pressure lies, whether it comes between you and God
29:03
Speaker 1: or whether it presses you nearer his heart. Pressure is
29:10
Speaker 1: not necessarily an enemy. It's a tool. If used correctly,
29:19
Speaker 1: it brings grace, mercy, and peace to light as it
29:23
Speaker 1: presses us nearer the heart of our God. Now the
29:32
Speaker 1: refreshing power of encouragement. I love it that Paul, before
29:37
Speaker 1: he begins words of exhortation and even some commands, spends
29:42
Speaker 1: time telling Timothy how much he appreciates him. Easy to
29:47
Speaker 1: forget doing that in this busy world, isn't it? After all?
29:51
Speaker 1: Very few people tell us, And after all people have
29:55
Speaker 1: to sort of do their own encouragement. Not really. I
30:00
Speaker 1: think some people today are dying on the vine for
30:03
Speaker 1: lack of encouragement. You may be one of them, Timothy
30:08
Speaker 1: may be one of them. Those words come from a
30:13
Speaker 1: man who knew grace and mercy and peace, and how
30:17
Speaker 1: they must have soothed Timothy's soul. I don't know the
30:25
Speaker 1: last time you received a letter that brought a soothing
30:30
Speaker 1: sense of God's warmth and encouragement to you. But it
30:34
Speaker 1: happened to me night before last a member of a
30:38
Speaker 1: former church who had been a special part of my
30:45
Speaker 1: life and the lives of our ministry there, who had
30:49
Speaker 1: gone through a horrendous experience of sexual abuse, and she
30:55
Speaker 1: had no one to turn to, and no one knew.
30:59
Speaker 1: And when it became known to me and to some
31:06
Speaker 1: of us on that pastoral staff, I made the very
31:11
Speaker 1: unpopular decision to deal with it openly and directly. And
31:18
Speaker 1: even though I was warned that there could be lawsuits
31:22
Speaker 1: and all sorts of media engagement in that sort of thing,
31:28
Speaker 1: I said, we're not going to worry about lawsuits. We're
31:30
Speaker 1: going to do what's right. And I had the elders
31:34
Speaker 1: alongside me, some of them a little nervous, but they
31:38
Speaker 1: were there saying, let's do this, and we exposed it
31:41
Speaker 1: all publicly. We dealt with it. She was one of
31:46
Speaker 1: sixty four young women who had been sexually abused by
31:50
Speaker 1: the perpetrator. Years had passed years, and the other evening
31:58
Speaker 1: I was handed a note written by her. First thing
32:03
Speaker 1: I thought of when I saw her name was this,
32:07
Speaker 1: this dark, dark phase of her life, and she wrote
32:12
Speaker 1: me to thank me for doing what was right. All
32:19
Speaker 1: of a sudden, there was a moment of well, I
32:24
Speaker 1: have to tell you, I was sort of swallowing the
32:26
Speaker 1: tears as I remembered the events, but there was a
32:30
Speaker 1: great moment of grace and mercy and peace that came
32:34
Speaker 1: over me. Here is a life along with the other
32:37
Speaker 1: young ladies, now women, now married, most of them mothers,
32:43
Speaker 1: now going on with their lives. Timothy, whatever maybe had
32:49
Speaker 1: been his situation, I think it's easy to pass quickly
32:53
Speaker 1: over words like this. They're almost a cliche in the
32:55
Speaker 1: New Testament. Grace, mercy, and peace from God, our Father
32:59
Speaker 1: in the Lord. Let's don't do that. Grace to you, Timothy,
33:08
Speaker 1: Mercy upon you, Timothy, Peace from the Father to you.
33:17
Speaker 1: Peace I leave with you, regardless of my circumstances, are yours? Peace?
33:25
Speaker 1: Peace to you, Timothy. One of the few places in
33:30
Speaker 1: the time of stress and pressure where you will hear
33:33
Speaker 1: words of peace is in a gathering like this, where
33:37
Speaker 1: we come for worship, where you have a chance to
33:42
Speaker 1: slow get away from that plugged computer, a turn off
33:48
Speaker 1: that plagged phone, get rid of the pager for a
33:53
Speaker 1: few minutes, well some of you, get away from it,
33:58
Speaker 1: and to just take time for the peace to come in.
34:02
Speaker 1: We need moments like this. Timothy needed a moment like that.
34:11
Speaker 1: So Paul, before he even gives words of encouragement, has
34:15
Speaker 1: a mentality that has removed him from the dungeon and
34:19
Speaker 1: prepared him for affirmation. What is that mentality? Look closely.
34:26
Speaker 1: It begins with a spirit of gratitude. I call it
34:30
Speaker 1: an attitude of gratitude. I thank God. Isn't that create
34:39
Speaker 1: What would be your opening line if you were writing
34:41
Speaker 1: from a dungeon? How about I got some things I
34:45
Speaker 1: like to ask God when I see him. How about
34:50
Speaker 1: oh my, this is miserable rather than I think God.
35:00
Speaker 1: You see, Paul isn't surrounded and preoccupied with the severity
35:04
Speaker 1: of his circumstances. He's focused on the living God. He
35:11
Speaker 1: is caught up in the memory of his friendship with
35:13
Speaker 1: his friend and others he will name in this letter.
35:18
Speaker 1: So he begins with an attitude of gratitude may I
35:21
Speaker 1: say you will never be an affirmer of others until
35:24
Speaker 1: you have cultivated an attitude of gratitude, because encouraging others
35:29
Speaker 1: requires a generosity of spirit, and a generosity of spirit
35:34
Speaker 1: is prompted by a heart of gratitude. Show me a
35:37
Speaker 1: grateful person, and I'll show you someone who spends a
35:41
Speaker 1: good deal of their time encouraging other folks. They have
35:45
Speaker 1: no pity parties. As Paul, I thank God. So he
35:51
Speaker 1: begins with an attitude of gratitude. Second, he has a
35:54
Speaker 1: heart of worship. Look at what you read here. I
35:56
Speaker 1: thank God whom I serve. See the serve. It's from
36:01
Speaker 1: a Greek word that could be rendered worship worship. Attitude
36:08
Speaker 1: changes our perspective. Worship directs our focus. When you mix
36:16
Speaker 1: gratitude with worship, it's remarkable what it does to your
36:21
Speaker 1: whole spirit. Can I say it again? Attitude changes our perspective.
36:29
Speaker 1: Worship directs our focus. I thank God who my worship,
36:38
Speaker 1: think of that night and day, who my worship with
36:46
Speaker 1: a clear conscience, the way my forefathers did. There's the third.
36:52
Speaker 1: Clear conscience relieves our anxiety. If attitude changes our inspect
37:00
Speaker 1: if worship directs our focus. Then a clear conscience relieves
37:06
Speaker 1: our guilt. And believe me, when your perspective has changed,
37:10
Speaker 1: when your worship is directed, when your conscience is clear,
37:14
Speaker 1: your mind is freed up, and you are removed from
37:18
Speaker 1: your own world, and you are, for some strange and
37:22
Speaker 1: amazing and divine reason able to identify with others in
37:26
Speaker 1: their world. Ket Hughes and his fine work on the
37:31
Speaker 1: Pastoral Letters First and Second Timothy and Titus writes this
37:36
Speaker 1: in the early part of his commentarium, tewod Timothy, listen
37:42
Speaker 1: the old warriors chained in a dripping winter cold dungeon,
37:46
Speaker 1: awaiting the executioner's acts, and as he surveys his life
37:53
Speaker 1: his conversion. Then the kaleidoscope of sermons preached, shipwrecks, confrontations, deliverance, stonings, beatings,
38:01
Speaker 1: and victories. His conscience is absolutely clear. There is no guilt,
38:10
Speaker 1: no weight of unresolved sins, nothing to confess. He has
38:16
Speaker 1: been true to the Gospel at his calling. He was
38:19
Speaker 1: not perfect, but he was blameless, and he was faithful.
38:24
Speaker 1: Love those words. Don't think that a clear conscience means
38:28
Speaker 1: you're perfect. It means you're blameless. It means you've kept
38:33
Speaker 1: short accounts and you've dealt with the things that would
38:36
Speaker 1: otherwise bring guilt and shame. And that's the apostle. He's
38:40
Speaker 1: got hours in the dungeon in which to search his soul,
38:44
Speaker 1: and you can be sure if there has been anything
38:47
Speaker 1: in the trail of his past that has plagued him,
38:51
Speaker 1: he's come to terms with it. Here. One of the
38:54
Speaker 1: benefits of solitude is searching our own souls and finding
39:00
Speaker 1: in that search those things that need to be addressed.
39:03
Speaker 1: Paul says, I'm writing with a clear conscience, a heart
39:07
Speaker 1: of worship, and I also have this attitude of gratitude
39:12
Speaker 1: when I write you. Now, if you have your outline handy,
39:15
Speaker 1: I want you to see the area where we call
39:18
Speaker 1: it the refreshing power of encouragement. Let me have you
39:22
Speaker 1: notice from the text itself four lines. I don't create them,
39:27
Speaker 1: I don't make them up. They're all four right here
39:29
Speaker 1: in front of us. You'll see all four in verses three, four,
39:34
Speaker 1: and five. First of all, notice, he says, I constantly
39:41
Speaker 1: remember to pray for you. That's verse three. I thank
39:45
Speaker 1: God whom I serve with a clear conscience, as my
39:49
Speaker 1: forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers
39:54
Speaker 1: night and day. I constantly remember to pray for you.
40:05
Speaker 1: Good time to Paul's and ask the direct question, for
40:08
Speaker 1: whom do you constantly pray? Surely you have a few.
40:17
Speaker 1: If you have none, it's no wonder your life has
40:20
Speaker 1: become so empty and self serving. If you have a few,
40:26
Speaker 1: you are rich for your link together in intercession. And
40:32
Speaker 1: among those for whom Paul has prayed day and night
40:36
Speaker 1: is Timothy. Paul's hold walking being was a spirit of
40:42
Speaker 1: intercession day and night. Isn't it great? We can do
40:45
Speaker 1: that at any time. Next time you awaken and can't
40:49
Speaker 1: go to sleep, pray, Hey, it'll put you to sleep
40:53
Speaker 1: like nothing else. Next time you lay down and you
40:57
Speaker 1: can't quite fall asleep, pray it does wonders for you.
41:03
Speaker 1: Next time you find yourself troubled over something that's ahead
41:06
Speaker 1: of you, pray pray for someone who is in an
41:10
Speaker 1: even more difficult situation. Cynthia and I get messages from individuals,
41:15
Speaker 1: and they help in many ways. But one of the
41:18
Speaker 1: best ways is often their situation is far more difficult
41:22
Speaker 1: than ours, and we're prompted that day to pray for them.
41:28
Speaker 1: So he says, I constantly remember to pray for you.
41:33
Speaker 1: How that must have thrilled Timothy. Here's the second read
41:37
Speaker 1: on longing to see you, even as I recall your
41:42
Speaker 1: tears so that I may be filled with joy. Second,
41:46
Speaker 1: I long to be with you right there in verse four,
41:52
Speaker 1: long to be with you. We had a wonderful thing going,
41:57
Speaker 1: didn't we, Timothy, those years we traveled again together. I
42:01
Speaker 1: long to be refreshed for the memory of that as
42:04
Speaker 1: we sit and talk together. There's nothing quite like your presence,
42:09
Speaker 1: and I miss you. In case you wonder of the
42:11
Speaker 1: intensity of his longing, go to the last chapter locate
42:16
Speaker 1: chapter four, verse nine. He mentions this twice in this
42:20
Speaker 1: chapter four to nine. Make every effort to come to
42:25
Speaker 1: me soon. Remember, Timothy is way over here in Ephesus.
42:31
Speaker 1: Check your own maps and you will see that far
42:34
Speaker 1: away Asia Minor as they called it in those days.
42:37
Speaker 1: You needed to cross the Aegean, go under Greece, which
42:41
Speaker 1: is a treacherous journey, cross the Adriatic, and get to
42:45
Speaker 1: Italy and then come up to Rome. That's quite a journey,
42:49
Speaker 1: says I long to see you, Timothy. I long to
42:52
Speaker 1: be with you. Make every effort to come to me.
42:54
Speaker 1: And in case you wonder, how intense verse twenty one,
42:58
Speaker 1: make every effort to before winter. One of my favorite
43:02
Speaker 1: phrases in the New Testament. John R. W. Stott points
43:06
Speaker 1: out that because travel was so treacherous traveling below Greece,
43:11
Speaker 1: which was known as a sailor's graveyard, he knew that
43:15
Speaker 1: if he waited until the winter winds, it'll be impossible
43:19
Speaker 1: for him to sail in that manner, and he wanted
43:23
Speaker 1: him to come quickly. This also gives us some idea
43:26
Speaker 1: of the season of the year it was in Paul's life,
43:30
Speaker 1: come before winter. Back to chapter one. I long to
43:33
Speaker 1: be with you. You see, he was the son Paul
43:37
Speaker 1: never had. He was his sole son. Now the third
43:44
Speaker 1: line is into verse five. I am mindful of the
43:47
Speaker 1: sincere faith within you, so let's use these words. I'm
43:51
Speaker 1: aware of the faith within you. I've traveled with you,
43:56
Speaker 1: I've gotten to know you, I understand you, I realize
43:59
Speaker 1: how you're put together, and I am aware that within
44:03
Speaker 1: you there is great faith. In fact, he even knew
44:08
Speaker 1: the family, the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt
44:12
Speaker 1: in your grandmother, and he names her and your mother,
44:16
Speaker 1: and he names her first Lois and then Eunice, your
44:23
Speaker 1: grandmother Lois was a woman of faith, and your mother
44:26
Speaker 1: Eunice as well. John Calvin has a great line that
44:31
Speaker 1: always makes me smile. Timothy was reared in his infancy
44:36
Speaker 1: in such a way that he could suck in godliness
44:39
Speaker 1: along with his mother's milk. I've always loved that. As
44:43
Speaker 1: she held him to her breast and nursed him, she
44:46
Speaker 1: also sang to him the songs of Zion. She whispered
44:50
Speaker 1: to him, the prayers of Moses. She built into him
44:55
Speaker 1: the principles of Joshua and David Pets. Never underestimate, as
45:04
Speaker 1: a parent or as a grandparent, the impact of your
45:08
Speaker 1: spiritual touch on your grandchildren and your children. Never underestimate it.
45:16
Speaker 1: Why do you think he's let you live this long?
45:20
Speaker 1: It's for someone else, isn't it? Pour your life into
45:23
Speaker 1: her or into him? If you have no children, there
45:27
Speaker 1: are others who would be just as open. So here
45:33
Speaker 1: is a solid model of faith, and Timothy, you fall
45:35
Speaker 1: in line. And I want to encourage you with the
45:39
Speaker 1: fact that I know you are. You're a man of faith.
45:42
Speaker 1: In fact, look at the end of the verse. He
45:44
Speaker 1: didn't have to add this except under the unction of
45:47
Speaker 1: the spirit. He says, I am mindful of your faith
45:51
Speaker 1: and that I am sure it is in you as well.
45:55
Speaker 1: It was in your grandmother, it was in your mother,
45:59
Speaker 1: and I I notice it is in you as well.
46:01
Speaker 1: Here's the fourth word of encouragement. I have great respect
46:06
Speaker 1: for you. I have great respect for you. I can't
46:12
Speaker 1: speak for you, but I can tell you. Whenever I
46:14
Speaker 1: have a mentor of mine, take the time to tell
46:18
Speaker 1: me that he respects me. It gives me new years
46:23
Speaker 1: on my life. It gives me encouragement like little else.
46:28
Speaker 1: Now you say, well, I'm no mentor. Well, no offense here,
46:33
Speaker 1: But you're older than others, right right, I'll answer for you.
46:38
Speaker 1: You are older than someone else. Someone else is younger
46:43
Speaker 1: than you. Someone else can learn from you, know more
46:45
Speaker 1: things than others that are around you in areas of
46:50
Speaker 1: a walk with Christ. Right, how many are you have
46:53
Speaker 1: under your wings? One? Great? Two? It's even better. I
47:00
Speaker 1: got to gather more than five at a time. But
47:03
Speaker 1: mentor a few. Start with your own children, and then
47:08
Speaker 1: as they grow and leave the nest, then you have
47:10
Speaker 1: others that come near. Paul had had several. One of
47:15
Speaker 1: them is Timothy, and he said, I I hold you
47:18
Speaker 1: in high regard. Timothy you've got the faith that your
47:20
Speaker 1: grandmother and your mother had. Now verse six, look at
47:26
Speaker 1: these words. Here's a reproof for this reason. For what reason?
47:32
Speaker 1: For what reason? Well, because you have this faith in you,
47:36
Speaker 1: because you have such deep and godly roots. For this reason,
47:40
Speaker 1: I remind you, Timothy, rekindle afresh the gift of God
47:46
Speaker 1: within you, which was laid on you at the laying
47:52
Speaker 1: on of my hands at your ordination. That remarkable thing occurred,
47:56
Speaker 1: and the giftedness is there not, Timothy, I urge you,
48:00
Speaker 1: you stir it up. This is the only time in
48:02
Speaker 1: all the New Testament that the original term translated kendel
48:06
Speaker 1: afresh appears. It's an Eriching word. This is the various
48:12
Speaker 1: ways has been rendered. Phillips says, Stir up that inner fire.
48:17
Speaker 1: Eugene Peterson renders it. Keep it ablaze, Fan it into flames,
48:22
Speaker 1: says the living, Keep at white heat. The gift in you,
48:28
Speaker 1: writes William Barkley. Stir it up. It isn't that the
48:32
Speaker 1: fire has gone out. It's that it's now it's it's
48:35
Speaker 1: now down to embers. And you know how you'll stoke
48:38
Speaker 1: the fire to get the flame going again in the
48:41
Speaker 1: fireplace or at the at the camp site, that the
48:45
Speaker 1: stirring of it brings the brings the flame back. That's
48:48
Speaker 1: that's his point, Timothy. You have these gifts God has
48:52
Speaker 1: given you, and and I urge you to stir them up. Sometime.
48:58
Speaker 1: The younger need words like that from those of us
49:01
Speaker 1: who were older. If I were a teacher of piano,
49:06
Speaker 1: I would say to my students, keep practicing, even the
49:10
Speaker 1: best students, keep practicing. If I were a mentor of
49:15
Speaker 1: a young preacher, I would say, keep studying. Don't go
49:19
Speaker 1: online and buy somebody else's sermon and then deliver it
49:23
Speaker 1: as though it's yours. That's a cheap sermon. You dig
49:27
Speaker 1: into the text and you get the message for yourself.
49:30
Speaker 1: Keep studying, keep coming up with original ideas, build your library.
49:35
Speaker 1: Stir up the gift. That's the idea. So he says
49:38
Speaker 1: to Timothy, I'm locked up in the dungeon, but you're
49:41
Speaker 1: out there ministering. Timothy, don't hold back, kindle afresh the
49:47
Speaker 1: gift that is in you. And in case Timothy wondered
49:50
Speaker 1: if he had the stuff it took to do so.
49:53
Speaker 1: Verse seven, he said, Timothy, God has not given us
49:56
Speaker 1: a spirit of timidity. Remember we learned last time that
49:59
Speaker 1: Timothy is timid, retiring. We would even use the word shy.
50:05
Speaker 1: Paul tells Timothy that doesn't come from the Lord. Timothy,
50:08
Speaker 1: you've cultivated that over your life for some reason and
50:12
Speaker 1: not revealed. But that's not from the Lord. What has
50:15
Speaker 1: the Lord given you? He's given you a spirit of
50:18
Speaker 1: power and love and discipline, not cowardice, but courage. So
50:26
Speaker 1: don't be hesitant about it, but minister with power and
50:29
Speaker 1: unlest you think it's all power, which would be a
50:32
Speaker 1: bullying kind of leadership. Remember the value of love and
50:35
Speaker 1: self control. How do I wrap this up? How do
50:39
Speaker 1: I make this applicable to people like you and me
50:42
Speaker 1: in our day and age. I want to go in
50:46
Speaker 1: three areas quickly, and I want you to see yourself
50:48
Speaker 1: in all three roles. Okay, why don't you write them down?
50:52
Speaker 1: The first role is the role of an intercessor. That's
50:56
Speaker 1: a person who prays for others, an intercessor. Second is
50:59
Speaker 1: the role of a mentor, that is one who trains others,
51:04
Speaker 1: doesn't just teach them, but trains them, rubs shoulders with them,
51:08
Speaker 1: spends time with them. A mentor. And the third is
51:12
Speaker 1: an encourager, an encourager. I want to apply this passage
51:18
Speaker 1: and I can do so very very quickly and simply.
51:22
Speaker 1: First of all, I urge you to be an intercessor
51:25
Speaker 1: on behalf of many. Put together a prayer list that
51:30
Speaker 1: has a line in the middle with the name of
51:33
Speaker 1: the individual on the left side, and then the need
51:36
Speaker 1: of the individual on the on the right side. And
51:40
Speaker 1: keep it specific, this person's name and in brief the
51:45
Speaker 1: need you want to remember. If you want to date it,
51:48
Speaker 1: that will help. Then you can check off the need
51:50
Speaker 1: as God answers the prayer. But that makes you an intercessor.
51:55
Speaker 1: You then spend your time, rather than sitting in front
51:57
Speaker 1: of a television or fiddling around with that plague and
52:00
Speaker 1: computer all day and all night and all day and
52:02
Speaker 1: all night and all day and all night and all
52:04
Speaker 1: day and all night called an addiction, you spend some
52:07
Speaker 1: time in prayer. In case you wonder how I felt
52:09
Speaker 1: about it, I just thought I would go into a
52:11
Speaker 1: little bit, make an intercessor out of your life, a
52:14
Speaker 1: praying person for another individual. That's one The second area
52:19
Speaker 1: of your life that you may have let go too
52:21
Speaker 1: early is your role as a mentor. All of us
52:26
Speaker 1: are older than someone which is sort of a new
52:29
Speaker 1: way to look at it, isn't it. Someone is younger
52:33
Speaker 1: than you, Someone knows less than you about a particular area.
52:37
Speaker 1: Someone longs to have your touch, your hand on or
52:42
Speaker 1: in his or her life. That's called a mentor. So
52:47
Speaker 1: think about who might benefit from your touch or your training,
52:51
Speaker 1: or your encouragement, your presence, and gather around you two
52:58
Speaker 1: or three individuals, not more than five, and to have
53:02
Speaker 1: them become, if you will, your disciples. When I was
53:06
Speaker 1: in the military, we had a Bible study and we
53:09
Speaker 1: broke our large Bible study up into groups, and we
53:12
Speaker 1: had three or four, never more than five in a group,
53:15
Speaker 1: and there was usually one who became the leader, and
53:18
Speaker 1: the rest of us were a part of that group.
53:20
Speaker 1: And I've seen it happen at schools and churches as well.
53:24
Speaker 1: We become mentors to those and we stay in touch
53:27
Speaker 1: with them, we enter into their world, and finally, an encourager.
53:35
Speaker 1: Encouragement happens when we lift the spirit of another. May
53:40
Speaker 1: I give you a project. Why don't you begin to
53:45
Speaker 1: be committed to an encouragement once a day. Now, don't
53:49
Speaker 1: do too much or they'll faint. Just do one a day, Okay,
53:54
Speaker 1: somebody that you're in touch with, give it at least
53:58
Speaker 1: a sentence of encouragement. All right. If you don't know
54:01
Speaker 1: what else to say, you could say nice tie, that's
54:06
Speaker 1: a good start. Or you know what, I notice you're
54:11
Speaker 1: here regularly and I want to thank you for your faithfulness,
54:15
Speaker 1: or thank you for something that you did for me
54:18
Speaker 1: that you may have forgotten about, and you mentioned it.
54:21
Speaker 1: One person a day for the rest of your life.
54:26
Speaker 1: One person a day you encourage, an intercessor, a mentor,
54:32
Speaker 1: and encouragement. One man wrote this, the physical presence of
54:40
Speaker 1: other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength
54:47
Speaker 1: to the believer. The believer feels no shame when he
54:52
Speaker 1: yearns for the physical presence of other Christians. Written in
54:58
Speaker 1: prison by Dietrich Bonnauffer and a hundred others that I
55:04
Speaker 1: could read to you now bye with me in prayer,
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Speaker 1: will you? The good news is that our heavenly Father
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Speaker 1: is all three, he and his Son, his Spirit, intercessors, mentors, encouragers.
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Speaker 1: You know, it just may be that some of you
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Speaker 1: hearing these words today are hearing about faith and about Christ,
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Speaker 1: and about the work of Christ and the life of
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Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus for the first time, or maybe for
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Speaker 1: the first time you've really paid attention. It just may
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Speaker 1: be that you have never in your life trusted in
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Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus. Just acknowledge that you are by nature
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Speaker 1: sinful and knowing that God is holy, that there's a
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Speaker 1: distance between the two of you, and to thank Him
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Speaker 1: for his love for you in spite of your life,
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Speaker 1: and for his faithfulness to you. And you would like
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Speaker 1: right now to exchange the emptiness for his righteousness. You
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Speaker 1: would like to give up the guilt and shame of
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Speaker 1: your past for the magnificence and the beauty and wealth, grace,
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Speaker 1: mercy and peace of the future He's planned for you.
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Speaker 1: Just a simple prayer, Heavenly Father, I trust in Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1: Right now I turn to Him by faith I accept him.
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Speaker 1: If you have done that, we'd love you to get
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Speaker 1: a hold of us, because we exist to help you
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Speaker 1: in your journey from Earth to Heaven. Now that it's begun,
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Speaker 1: we want to help you on the way. Father, Thank
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Speaker 1: you for the joy of time of worship, for the
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Speaker 1: pleasure of ministry together, for the memorable passages of Scripture
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Speaker 1: that are unfolded before us. These opening words of an
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Speaker 1: aging apostle written to a young, pressured, young pastor hundreds
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Speaker 1: of miles away. I pray that this journey that we
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Speaker 1: have had together verbally will find its place in the
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Speaker 1: heart and lives of a few who've heard these words,
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Speaker 1: that you would bring encouragement to them and spur them
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Speaker 1: to be that to others. Thank you for the tenderness
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Speaker 1: of this aging apostle's words, that bitterness never found its
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Speaker 1: way into his life. May that rub off on us now?
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Speaker 1: This week we opened before you and we asked that
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Speaker 1: you would use us as encouragement to others. May it
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Speaker 1: open doors of further opportunity to tell them of the
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Speaker 1: Savior and of the joy of knowing him in a
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Speaker 1: personal way. This we ask in the name of our
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Speaker 1: Lord Jesus, and for his sake alone. Everyone said amen.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message, Tender Words from a Mentor, was copyrighted
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Speaker 2: in two thousand and nine and twenty fifteen, and the
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Speaker 2: sound recording was copyrighted in twenty fifteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
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Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
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Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.